Bright Eyes.

I am not a fan of change, so when I saw that Urban Decay had changed the packaging for their Eyeshadow Potion, I was a little sceptical. I first tried Eyeshadow Potion as a late-teenager, and I owe my more than serious eyeshadow game to it.


I had this old tube for so long that I'm not even sure how long I've actually had it. I know it's probably not good to keep things like make-up for a long time but I'd feel wasteful and there never seemed to be anything wrong with the consistency or anything so I can only assume that it stayed fine for all that time.




Initially, I did think that the wand would be too clunky and be less flexible than just putting a little on my finger and applying it but this is actually much easier.

I'd definitely really recommend the Eyeshadow Potion, even with the new packaging, sometimes I just use it as a highlighter (even if I'm not actually meant to) and when I wear eyeshadow, it lasts the whole day with no problem.



Unfortunately it does look as though the new packaging means they've skimped out on the extra 1ml that the old one had and I don't know whether it will last as long, but to be honest, even if it lasts half as long as its predecessor, I should really be more than happy.

So, I'm completely out of the loop, so this is something that might have changed a while ago and already been talked about, this is just my two cents and in fact, Urban Decay's Eyeshadow Potion is just a product I'd recommend to anyone. I've never bothered to go out my way to find a dupe but if you did happen to know of any, I'd definitely be interested to try.

I picked mine up from Debenhams, but I'm fairly certain it's a really bog-standard Urban Decay product so I think anywhere that stocks Urban Decay should have it.

Have you used Urban Decay's Eyeshadow Potion? I'd really love to hear what you think, maybe I'm wrong in thinking it's such an important product.

The Right Lights.

It's no secret that I've been pretty dang terrible at blogging this year, but as I keep saying, I've had a fair bit going on... I know this house 'thing' is a marathon and not a sprint, but I don't think I anticipated it would take this long to turn this place into somewhere that feels like home.

Last weekend was the first time since we've moved that I've felt genuinely comfortable with having guests come to stay, and that's with the clutter that's still overtaking the front room, the fact we have no dining table and not to mention the amount of recycling we have (seriously, no one ever tells you that you'll suddenly amass more cardboard than you've seen in your life)!
It finally feels like we're getting there though, you know? It's not a chore to have downtime any more and we can have the odd evening where we're not unpacking another box or moving stuff from one room to another because it 'just looks better'.


With that being said, with our self-set deadline of the first weekend of August looming, we still have to paint the landing, living room, bathroom, front room, kitchen and hallway - but it's all good because despite running out of steam, we're feeling savvy having painted those first few rooms and we're being a little less ambitious with colour for this next lot - feature walls are fun and all, getting painting done is far more satisfying.

TL; DR: I got a new bathroom cabinet, I put it up in my house, I've lost track of all time.


[Bathroom Cabinet: Teagan (similar), c/o Pebble Grey]
Right, back to why we're here...

I was contacted just after we put in an offer on the house to write about bathroom lighting with the offer of a fancy bathroom cabinet mirror from Pebble Grey and here's my full disclosure policy because a bathroom mirror is one of those things you don't think about needing until you do and I was going to move house and I needed one so of course, I said yes. Plus, storage, I can't stress enough how much I love storage and thinking we wouldn't even have a bed at this point, I needed all the help I can get.

So when the cabinet landed on my desk after a couple of e-mail exchanges, I was pretty excited, I naïvely thought that it wouldn't matter that I didn't put it up in the flat because we'd be in our new house in a matter of weeks. Three months later... Obviously we've now lived here about 3 months and we're only just settling in, so we only actually put up the cabinet a few weeks ago so this review has (some how) ended up being almost 6 months late. But I'm doing this and it's a great cabinet and a great idea so I felt compelled to share anyway, despite the embarrassment.


That slate. ♥



Bathroom lights are usually pretty bright, in fact, I remember reading (back when for a period I was inexplicably obsessed with winding down in the evenings) that they can end up waking you up and making you more alert, a little annoying when it's time to get ready for bed.

I was actually considering, once we'd bought our own place, that we'd either get super-low wattage lights or a dimmer switch but instead, this delightful LED battery mirror came up and I have to say, it lights up the bathroom like the moon and is great for staying relaxed after making the move from the living room to brushing my teeth.





Our little IKEA drill has been the best purchase, but these little piles of ex-wall don't ever fail to stress me out.
The cabinet itself was very easy to put up but we're very much DIY novices so it still took a good hour or so - which included the mild panic that Moon had over whether he'd hit a pipe or not, he didn't, so yeah, easy peasy. I really like the way it looks and even though the light is a simple set of battery LEDs it looks pretty sleek, I'm so pleased.

I feel that the inside of the cabinet is a little bit of a let-down as mirror on the other side of the door is just stuck on rather than having a little more consideration - with that being said, I hardly open it as it's mainly for our medicines and Moon's man things.




Now we 'actually' live somewhere it's been really satisfying to be able to invest in quality pieces rather than cheap but okay. The bathroom cabinet, while sponsored, is a great example of the kind of things that it's worth investing in. Especially if all you need to wind down and get a better nights sleep is some nifty bathroom lighting and, considering the mirror the previous people had before was just that, it's changed the whole feel of the bathroom and instantly made it 10x more functional.

Like I said, it's sort of getting there, even our bathroom window is starting to look like home.




[*I was gifted this bathroom cabinet by Pebble Grey, in case I didn't mention it enough, all views are my own]
Gratuitous Doll pics:

Packing Up: Useful Storage

Moving day is getting closer, so that means that all storage is useful storage, whether it's cardboard, or something a little more fancy.


When I was sent this cute storage bag from Room to Grow it couldn't have come at a better time. I'm always on the hunt for receptacles to put things in but due to being semi-mid-move it was a bit hard to place this at the exact moment that I wanted to get the photos ready.



Room to Grow predominantly caters for pretty bespoke children's bedrooms so I have a pretty strong feeling that this is designed for toys or other child-related miscellanea. As a little person is nowhere near on my horizons yet, I can afford to be a little selfish and I reckon this is going to come in really useful for things like bed linen, towels and maybe extra cushions (which I've some how accumulated).




The bag itself is fairly sturdy and even though you do need to have something in it in order to hold it up, that's makes it pretty good for storing away when it's not needed - ideal for someone who's trying to cut down on clutter.

Film Club | November

When I came to write this post, having not actually watched a movie in what feels like quite a while, I thought it would be another one of those months that I'd let it slide a bit. Looking back though, November, despite the small quantity and forgetting about V/H/S Viral was actually a pretty solid month for films.

I think I can pick something I like from each of these films (apart from V/H/S Viral) and that's not too bad, even if the main reason I picked and enjoyed This is Where I Leave You was Adam Driver, sometimes that's okay. Hey, when Adam Driver is involved, it's always okay.

92. Horns
93. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
94. This is Where I Leave You

95. The Inbetweeners 2
96. V/H/S Viral
97. St Vincent

Most Favourite: The Inbetweeners 2 — It might not been a cinematic masterpiece and some people might think it's annoying and awkward but The Inbetweeners still remains one of my most quoted, most favourite shows. Despite being hella skeptical about the second film, I think I might have laughed even harder than I did at the first one. Sometimes you've just got to laugh and if something can make you do that, for a good reason, then it's got to be good. Must admit, this film also made me dry-heave involuntarily, so there was that too, if you've seen it, you'd be right in guessing it was the waterslide scene.

Least Favourite: V/H/S Viral — You probably guessed that already. I've no idea why I watch these because they're just terrible. This one was the worst yet and came complete with social commentary wrapped in a nice message about being more present - what it actually was, was a confusing 70-minute gore fest complete with zombie skeletons and devil worshipping doppelgängers... Yep.

Look Back –
Film Club | January
Film Club | February
Film Club | March
Film Club | April
Film Club | May
Film Club | June
Film Club | July
Film Club | August
Film Club | September
Film Club | October

You can also follow along on Pinterest.

Film Club | October

October felt like the longest month, probably because of all the changes swirling around but I still managed to squeeze in a few films with this month being a bit more related to my choosing and films Moon wouldn't watch with me since we spent a bit more time apart than usual.

It has felt a bit like my selections have been getting smaller and smaller but I'm quite pleased to see that I might at least make it to the 100-mark before the year is out. ♥

85. Obvious Child
86. Maps to the Stars
87. What If
88. The ABCs of Death

89. Boyhood
90. Lilting
91. Lucy

Most Favourite: Obvious Child — It's strange that such a thing as an 'abortion comedy' can exist but Obvious Child really pulled it off. At it's heart it's a sweet story about a girl who has pretty much every aspect of her life go wrong at the same time on top of finding out that she's pregnant. I found it a pretty honest portrayal of the emotional situation the main character, played by the adorable Jenny Slate, found herself in and with abortion not being something that's affected me, I can definitely relate to having 'one of those weeks'. As well as being cute, fresh and funny, the leading man is, without meaning to sound lame, hella cute like omg, I could smoosh his face!

Least Favourite: The ABCs of Death — For some reason or another this popped under my radar and a fan of the ever-so-similar VHS franchise, I figured it might be worth a watch. The premise of the film is to assign 26 film makers a letter where they pick a theme surrounding death and go with it. Some of them are funny, some of them are vile but the whole film is pretty darn awful. I don't think it came together that well at all and with some of the films getting more screen time than others there was often too little time to explain what you'd actually just witnessed (there's one with furries, urgh). I hear their making a sequel, but I think that sounds like something to avoid.

Honourable Mention: Boyhood – Boyhood has been the most hyped film I've watch pretty much all year post-awards season, and actually I think that's what ruined it for me. The best part was seeing Richard Linklater really honour his craft and put love into this project, it's so evident in almost every shot but the story just didn't get there for me. I love that due to the time span of 10 years, we're treated to pop-culture references throughout but the actual 'boy' kind of emerges to be a bit lame and I found myself really not caring what happened to him, maybe it's just me though. It's a pretty hefty watch at almost 3 hours long and I'm glad I stuck it out to find out what the fuss was about but it just is what it is and I can't find myself getting excited by it.

Look Back –
Film Club | January
Film Club | February
Film Club | March
Film Club | April
Film Club | May
Film Club | June
Film Club | July
Film Club | August
Film Club | September

You can also follow along on Pinterest.

Review :: Chocolate in the Post.

So, of all things that you can get in the post, chocolate has got to be pretty high up there, particularly when it's dreamy, creamy Lindt chocolate.

Back in August (yes, August) I was lucky enough to receive free samples from Lindt's 'Hello My Name Is...' range, a cute new collection of chocolate sticks and bars in an array of tasty and exciting flavours. Designed for indulging yourself and sharing, it goes without saying that after this little care package, I was stocked up on chocolate for a little while.



Overall, while tasting luxurious, none of the chocolates were as dense or rich as I thought they would be and were really easy to eat. That sounds a bit silly because who doesn't love chocolate, but as someone who doesn't have all that much of a sweet tooth, getting five large bars of chocolate when I probably wouldn't get one that size more than once every six months, it was a bit daunting.

I thought my favourite from the off would be the Salted Caramel and I was right. There was just the right amount of caramel with a slight hit of salt towards the end, I can't get enough of anything salted caramel recently and I know it's pretty trendy but I personally think all the hype is for good reason.


I think the two biggest surprises were the Crunchy Nougat and Caramel Brownie. I think it's generally because these chocolates are so good anyway that any flavour combination was going to be delicious but I did worry that the nougat would be too 'nougatty' and the caramel brownie would be too chocolatey but both flavours were more there to enhance texture while only hinting at what variety they were, something I quite liked.

These were definitely a winner for me, offering a bit more than a bog-standard chocolate bar without having overpowering flavours that take away from the fact you're eating chocolate, I hope that this range is around to stay.

I've Got Friends, I've Got Family Here.

On Monday, Moon and I went to our first gig in ages, bit of a mistake given that it was on a school night after busy days for both of us but we powered through.

We were at the O2 Academy Oxford to see Eliza & the Bear, a band I discovered back in January when I refused to listen to anything but Xfm. I've mentioned them a couple of times before on here and they've become regulars on my Spotify playlists as time has gone on.

Without meaning to sound too mushy, they're lyrics and sound are just really uplifting and they're a pretty great band to turn to when I need that little lift. After listening to their recordings for the best part of a year, it was the actual best that they were even better live. Opening with 'Friends', I was dancing from the start of their set to the end and despite Moon's scepticism, the fact that they're that bit heavier live, he actually might have fallen for them. So good job, guys, you've won yourself a new fan.

Supported by a local guy called Jack Little and (my bargaining tool for getting Moon to come) Pixel Fix, it was a really enjoyable evening and makes me excited for the live shows we have coming up in the next couple of months, after no festivals and even longer since we've been to an actual gig, I don't know why we left it so long.

Highlights for Jack Little included his song, 'Zombie', about putting your phone away, something I'm probably slightly of guilty of but something that definitely gets annoying when you're at a gig and 'that popular' song comes on, it's the video-takers I hate.

Moon and I also loved Jack's little mate who clearly thought the world of him and was singing along to every word, the cutest ♥.

He might get it a lot but as a 'guy with a 3/4 guitar', it's hard not to make the comparison between him and Ed Sheeran, which I hope works in his favour and doesn't mean that he's missed the boat, you know, since Ed Sheeran is bigshot sellout now.

I knew next to nothing about Pixel Fix other than recognising the name. They're not what I would usually listen to but they put on a good show and their between-song patter was pretty good.

Pretty pleased I managed to get this one. \o/